Science is part of the creation’s lives as it systematically brings the universal knowledge to order and development through facts and observations that are proven and tested. That being said, the scientific discipline exists not only in one religious system but in two, to wit, Mary Baker Eddy’s Christian Science founded in 1879 and L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology in 1953. Though these organizations share the same ground for science, they are two exactly distinct identities. Read on as the difference between Scientology and Christian Science is discussed through out the article.
GOD
Scientology and Christian Science differ on their fundamental precepts about God. Christian Science, as its name suggests, stems from Christianity. Its main focus and belief is on God and Jesus. Their theology and practices is based on God. They also follow and acknowledge the authority and holiness of the Bible. It is basically their contemporary response to Jesus Christ’s discipleship mission for the expansion of God’s Kingdom on earth.
On the other hand, Scientology is a religion that believes that this system is the answer to the therapeutic aid that the people ask for. Their main purpose is to fulfill the potential of the human race. This system also do not put so much importance in the concept of God or a Higher Being. While Christian Science recognizes God as the creator of everything in the universe, Scientology believes in what they call the “thetan” as the creator who has the freedom from a life of captivity.
THE CHURCH
The Church of Christian Science holds weekly services held every Sunday with parishioners praying and studying the Bible and other religious passages which is actually patterned to the traditional religious branches of Christianity. Just like the services in any other Christian denomination, their congregational Sunday service usually lasts for an hour. Their followers also have a meeting for personal testimonies and prayers held every Wednesday.
The Church of Scientology, on the other hand, hold their audit meetings each day of the week beginning morning up to late at night. Their primary reasons for staffing and opening their church everyday is for their auditing and training course. In the system of auditing, the auditor should be skilled in Scientology methods or technology and he or she must also listen to their church’s learners to regenerate their abilities and to help them come through their full potential. Moreover, their church does not demand their followers to give up their dedication in other religions to join them.
SIN
In Christian Science, sin is considered to be a deceived state of mind. In order to improve one’s self and produce change, one should be fully aware of evil. For repentance to be made possible, a person has to be really equipped with the true and severe meaning of evil. They strongly believe that Jesus Christ is only the way to be free from the bondage of sin; and that the Word of God keeps people from being tempted to commit immoral thoughts and deeds.
In contrast to what Christian Science holds true, Scientology believes that men have psychological orientations for violence that contradicts the goodness others. That is basically two and a half percent of the men in the population that are acknowledged to be good. They also have their own justice system executed by Scientologists to handle crimes and misconducts. Their technological methods are said to bring forth freedom from the incarcerating pain and early trauma, known as the “engrams,” for men to attain the state of “clear.”
SALVATION
Christian Science believes that men have the ability to help God’s grace and Christ’s perfect command come alive for salvation. As wisdom and strength follow from knowing and understanding the Word of God, men will be released from slavery of sin, death and sickness. Since the reality of death is not the way to heaven, worldly pains and pleasures must be destroyed while here on earth. They regard the truth that Jesus Christ is the way to eternal life through His crucifixion and resurrection. To be able to realize and prove the impotence of our life on earth, men should experience spiritual awakening and understanding. For believers of this system, prayer provides salvation from God who gives wisdom and strength to people so they can defeat trials.
By contrast, Scientologists believe that audits pave the way for the salvation of the people who are capable of doing real evil. These audits help humans to free themselves of the thing called engrams. To know that the audit has been successfully accomplished, the individual will experience two states. First is to reach the state of “clear” making him or her uninhibited and released from all the painful physical sensations. Second is to become an “Operating Thetan” that has total independence and freedom of his body and the universe. The Operating Thetan trusts the restoration of the self to the original and natural states of being. That way, he will go through his life-sustaining identity that includes being the origin of creation. This is made possible because of the advancement of Scientology.
Christian Science logo
HEALING
Christian Science is a religious system of health care based on spirituality, and their experience on healing centers on God and His sovereign love. God who has the divine and supreme Mind is confessed to be the sole origin and creator of the entire macrocosm, and is in control of all creation and anything in the universe. With that, they have this thing called mind-healing that will bring out the persistence of goodness while the mundane sufferings experienced by humans will be broken through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God. The main purpose for this mind-healing is to recognize the nullity of the physical realm and to come to terms with the knowledge of the mightiness of God. This belief system has already been practiced and studied by people from all walks of life throughout the world.
On the contrary, Scientology believes that men are liberated from “engrams,” or the forgotten pain of previous mental state. For them, the power of healing is given more importance to their belief that it comes from the divine nature of men. To specify the things that must be cleared out of the person or the preclear’s memory, a device called electro-psychometer or E-Meter will be used by the auditor. They hold that it is difficult to comprehend God, but this is not really a problem for Scientology’s concept of healing, since knowing God is not important in the process. The most important thing for Scientologists is the supreme knowledge happening through the Eighth Dynamic, which is the uttermost of the concentric circles of the state of being with the therapies of healing being achieved through the technologies developed by L. Ron Hubbard.
CONCLUSION
To sum it all up, the most important difference between these two religious systems dwells in the essential truth that Christian Science roots from Christianity. It honors the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ, thus the word Christian in their religion. On the other hand, Scientology centers the individual more than any Supreme Being. The follower can decide on whether to have faith in a creator or not. As a matter of fact, Scientology does not demand its learners to abandon any other religion. To further conclude, Christian Science is not Scientology and Scientology is not Christian.